Pages

Thursday, July 29, 2010

A rocket attack has claimed several lives in the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala as
the capital Baghdad witnessed more deadly bombings.

"Several mortars landed at 11:00 p.m. (0800 GMT ) on Tuesday, killing seven
pilgrims and injuring 46, in a neighborhood a few kilometers northwest of the
center of the city," AFP quoted a Karbala police officer as saying on
Wednesday.

The shells targeted Shia pilgrims who were coming from around the city to
participate in the ceremony marking the birthday of Imam Mahdi -- the 12th Shia
imam.

The mortar explosions also ripped through a number of nearby houses in the
northwest of Karbala, which hosts the holy shrine of Imam Hossein's shrine --
the third Shia imam.

Meanwhile, a bomb detonated inside a restaurant at around 9:30 a.m. (0630
GMT) on Wednesday in Baghdad's northern neighborhood of Sadr City, killing five
people.

A woman was among the victims of the blast which injured 13 more people,
said officials from the defense and interior ministries who were speaking on
condition of anonymity.

Meaning literally the mid-Shaaban visit, the al-Ziyara al-Shaabaniya is a
pilgrimage to revive the memory of the birth of the Messiah-like Imam al-Mahdi,
the 12th holiest figure for Shiites Muslims.

Karbala, with an estimated population of 572,300 people in 2003, is
considered to be one of Shiite Muslims’ holiest cities.

The city, 110 km southwest of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, is one of Iraq’s
wealthiest, profiting both from religious visitors and agricultural produce,
especially dates.

Meanwhile A bomb has detonated inside a restaurant in the north of the
Iraqi capital, leaving five people killed and more than a dozen others
wounded.